


The Man in the Brown Shoes

by Thackeray1972



Category: Hollyoaks
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-01 15:00:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16767430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thackeray1972/pseuds/Thackeray1972
Summary: What happens when Hollyoaks Serial Killer strikes again?





	1. Chapter 1

Romeo had agreed to come over to his father’s flat to hear his side of things. He had realized early on that he couldn’t trust Mac, and as much as it hurt to admit it, he knew he couldn’t trust his mother to be honest with him either. James had asked him to come over so they could talk alone, and Romeo decided he wanted to hear what he father had to say; after all the whole point of coming to this village was to meet his Dad.

When Romeo got to the flat, he noticed the door was partly opened. “James,” he called as he stepped into the flat. When he got no answer he walked further inside till he stopped dead; his father was lying face down on the floor, a cracked crystal decanter lying beside him. “Dad,” Romeo shouted bending down beside the motionless figure, “Dad can you hear me?” Romeo desperately grabs for his phone and calls an ambulance.

“Dad, please wake up,” he begs being careful not to move James. Desperate he runs outside just as Lily and Prince are passing, “Hurry come with me my Dad’s been hurt,” he shouts at them gesturing towards the flat.

Lily quickly assesses the situation, “did you call an ambulance?”

Romeo just nods trying to contain his panic.

“Looks like he was hit in the back of the heads,” she says kneeling down beside him, “he has a pulse, it’s weak but it’s there. Prince go outside and wait for the ambulance,” she instructs.

“Is he going to be alright?” Romeo asks desperately.

“I don’t know,” Lily tells him, “do you know what happened?”

Romeo shakes his head, “no he, he was like this when I found him.”

“Please Lily he can’t die,” Romeo pleads, “I just started to get to know him, I can’t loose him now.”

Lily reaches over and takes his hand giving it a comforting squeeze.

The paramedics and police arrive together and Lily fills them in as much as possible.

“You found him?” a police office asks Romeo taking out a notepad.

“Yeah, he was just lying there on the floor,” Romeo responds, “the, the door was open,” he adds.

“And who are you?”

“Romeo Quinn, I’m his son,” he answers as he watches paramedics treat James before loading him on to a gurney, “is he going to be alright,” he asks one of the paramedics.

“We’re going to do the best we can,” she says trying to be reassuring.

Romeo turns to the police officer, “I’ve gotta go to the hospital.”

“Just a few more questions,” the officer insists, “was your father expecting you?”

Romeo nods again, “yes he had invited me over.”

“What time did you last hear from your father?”

Romeo thinks for a second, then scrolls through his phone, “he texted me about an hour ago suggesting I come over to talk,” he shows the officer the text.

“Okay is there anyone else we should contact?”

“His mother,” Romeo says, “Marni Nightengale, I’ll call her. Can I go now?” he asks desperately wanting to go to the hospital.

The office nods, “you can go for now but we will be in touch.”

“Come on mate, we’ll go with you to the hospital,” Prince takes his arm and he & Lily lead Romeo out of the flat.

Romeo bursts into Emergency and rushes up to the nurses station, “my father, James Nightengale, they just brought him in with a head injury, where is he?”

The nurse looks at her monitor, “he’s with the doctors they’re trying to determine if he needs surgery or not,” the nurse indicates a room just off the corridor. Romeo, Prince and Lily stand at the window and watch as the doctors work on James. Suddenly he starts convulsing; “What’s happening?” Romeo asks panicking.

“He’s having a seizure caused by the brain injury,” Lily explains.

As they watch the seizure ends and the doctors seem to get him stabilized. Lily sees a nurse she recognizes and goes to question her about James’ condition.

“Hey mate, it’s going to be alright, you’re Dad’s tough,” Prince says putting an arm around Romeo’s shoulder.

“He tried to form a relationship with me and I pushed him away! I listed to Mac and my mum’s lies, and now…what if he dies?” Romeo asks with tears in his eyes.

“We just have to try and stay positive, yah?” Prince tries to comfort him as Lily returns.

Romeo looks up expectantly. “He has a subdural hematoma so they are prepping him for surgery,” Lily explains looking at Romeo with concern.

Just than Marni barges in demanding to know where her son is, “Romeo where’s James? What’s happened to my boy?” she asks.

“They are prepping him for surgery,” Lily answers.

“Surgery?” Marni exclaims terrified.

Lily nods, “yes he’s suffered a severe brain injury so they need to operate,” as she finishes James is wheeled past them towards surgery.

“James!” Marni cries when she sees him. Romeo grabs his grandmother and pulls her to him.

“I don’t understand, what happened?” she asks desperately looking up at Romeo.

“We don’t know exactly but it looks like someone’s hit him over the head,” Romeo explains, “I found him, he was lying on the floor in his flat.”

“You mean someone did this to him?”

Romeo nods, “yes,” but before he can continue Mac appears.

“Where’s my son?” Mac demands.

“Your son? Since when do you give a damn about your son?” Romeo shouts at him angrily advancing towards the other man, “you need to stay away from him! Do you hear me? For all we know you were the one who tried to kill him,” Romeo accuses Mac shaking with rage.

“Romeo,” Lily tries to pull him back, “don’t do this, not here, you need to keep your head.”

“Mac is it true? Did you do this to my beautiful boy?” Marni asks Mac accusingly.

“No, of course not,” Mac insists feigning hurt, “how could you think I could do that to my own son.”

“Maybe because you used to beat him!” Romeo states trying to keep his cool.

“Mac you need to go,” Marni says finally finding her voice, “and if I find out you had anything to do with this I will kill you myself!” she threatens him.

Mac angrily leaves.

“Glad to see you are finally sticking up for your son, it only took you 30 years!” Romeo scoffs at Marni.

“Romeo stop!” Lily pleads grabbing his arm again, “this is helping anyone. We need to concentrate on James.”

Romeo deflates, “you’re right, I’m sorry, I’m just so scared he’s going to die,” he says softly. Lily pulls him into her arms.

“Do you think Mac did this?” Prince asks Marni.

“I wish I could tell you he didn’t, but unfortunately Mac is violent and unpredictable,” Marni admits looking ashamed, “I can’t believe I continually let that man worm his way back into our lives. When James recovers I will make sure Mac doesn’t come anywhere near us again!” she vows.

Prince suggests that he and Lily go get everyone coffee, leaving Marni and Romeo alone in tense silence.

“I know I’ve failed your father, Romeo,” Marni says finally, “I knew what Mac was and still I let him manipulate me. He’s always been my weakness.”

Romeo looks at his grandmother, unsure how to respond.

“James was trying to be a father to me but I let Mac get between us; so you’re not the only one who’s fallen for his lies,” Romeo admits.

“I just pray I have time to make it up to him,” Marni moves to sit beside her grandson; “we are both lucky to have him.”

A couple of hours later, after Lily & Prince had left, the doctor finally appears, “are you James Nightengale’s family?”

“Yes, I’m his mother, this is his son, please tell us how he is,” Marni responds holding Romeo’s hand.

“He’s suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, we were able to remove the hematoma, and relieve some of the pressure in his brain,” the doctor explains, “he’s stable right now, but we won’t know the extent of the damage until he wakes up.”

“So that means he’ll wake up? He’ll be okay?” Romeo asks anxiously.

“He’s stable but still in critical condition; we’ve done all we can do right now, the next 24-48 hours will help us determine the extent of his injuries,” the doctor answers gravely.

“Can we see him?” Marni asks.

The doctor nods, “he’s being moved to the ICU, a nurse will come and get you.”

When they are shown into his room, Romeo is struck by how small and pale his father looks lying in the bed hooked up to machines.

Marni goes to him and takes his hand, “James darling it’s me, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to protect you.”

Romeo stands looking down at his father, unsure what to do, “I’m here too, Dad,” he finally says quietly.

After a few minutes, Romeo starts to fill overwhelmed and tells his grandmother he needs to go outside and get some air. 

“Romeo are you alright?” Lily asks concerned when she finds him leaning against the wall bent over trying to catch his breath.

“Yes, I just, I just needed to get out of there for a minute,” he gasps.

Lily rubs his back, “it’s okay just concentrate on your breathing, nice and slow,” she instructs him in a calming tone.

Finally he’s able to slow his breathing down and wearily stands up, “he’s in the ICU, they don’t know when or if he’s going to wake up,” he looks at Lily, who pulls him into her arms.

“What are you doing here? I thought you and Prince left,” he asks pulling away.

“I just wanted to check on you,” Lily admits.

Romeo can’t help but smile at this, “thanks, it helps having you here.”

Lily looks up at him, “I’m your friend of course I’ll be here for you.”

Marni ends up booking a hotel room close to the hospital not wanting to go back to Cindy’s house and face Mac. Romeo heads back to James’ but the police have it cordoned off for their investigation. He texts Prince who agrees to let him crash on their couch.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day Romeo is met by DS Thompson who says he has more questions about yesterday.  
“Do you know of anyone who would want to hurt your father?”

Romeo looks uneasy, “my father wasn’t exactly the friendliest person, I mean I know there are a lot of people in the village that don’t like him, but I don’t think they’d try to kill him.”

“Well he’s a lawyer so he would be in contact with a lot of unsavoury characters, has he ever mentioned any client in particular that was maybe giving him a hard time?”

Romeo shakes his head, “no, at least he’s never said anything to me,” Romeo pauses, “you might want to look at his father Mac Nightengale.”

DS Thompson looks up at him in surprise, “his father? Why do you think his father wanted to kill him?”

“Because Mac Nightengale is a monster, he used to beat James when he was growing up and he still bullies him now. He hates his son because he’s gay.”

“Well it sounds like we need to have a chat with this Mr. Nightengale.”

“Is there anyone else?”

Romeo hesitates, “well there’s Ste Hay, and he hates him because his husband dumped him for my father.”

“Okay I’ll make a note of that,” the detective looks at Romeo, “thanks for your help, I’ll be in touch,” he says before leaving.  
Romeo finds Marni in James’ room, “any change?”

Marni just shakes her head, “the doctors say he’s stable which is good, but he’s still unconscious. What if he doesn’t wake up?”

Romeo looks at his Dad, “I did some research last night and some doctors think it helps if you talk to the person,” he looks at Marni, “so maybe we should try that.”

Marni looks doubtful but decides to give it a try, “James darling, it’s me, your mother, I don’t know if you can hear me darling but I need you to wake up. I need you to open your eyes for me, can you do that?” she pleads.

Romeo goes closer to the bed, “umm I’m here too Dad, and I just want you to know that we are going to find out who did this to you, and make them pay.”

Later, while taking a break from the hospital Romeo spots Ste, “Oi,you,” he shouts angrily confronting Ste, “did you do that to my Dad?”

Ste looks at him confused, “what are you on about?”

“My Dad, James Nightengale, did you try and kill him?” Romeo persists.

“Of course not, why would I?”

“Because Harry dumped you for him, and I know how much you hate him,”

Ste shakes his head, “you’re right I do hate James, he’s a lying, manipulative snake, but I didn’t try and kill him, I wouldn’t waste the energy.”

Romeo clenches his fists, “don’t you talk about him like that, and he’s twice the man you will ever be! And Harry obviously agrees,” he gets in Ste’s face, “If I find out you hurt my Dad I will make you pay!”

The doctor had suggested that Marnie talk to James about some of his favourite things, so when Romeo returns he finds her reading articles from a wine connoisseur magazine.

“What are you reading?” Romeo asks in confusion.

“It was the doctor’s suggestion,” Marnie defends herself.

“The doctor told you to bore him to death?” Romeo laughs before realizing what he had just said, “oh Marnie I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it..” he stammers.

“It’s okay sweetheart I know what you mean,” Marnie looks at Romeo, “you know I’m starting to see the resemblance.”

Romeo smiles almost shyly, “you think?” Romeo looks over at his father, “I’m better looking though,” he adds teasingly.

The days pass slowly and even though James remained in stable condition he failed to regain consciousness. Marnie and Romeo were starting to get desperate. They had even gotten Alfie to visit James in the hospital, even though Alfie was angry at them for suggesting to the police that Mac could have been responsible for the attack. There hadn’t been any progress in the investigation and Romeo was having a hard time containing his anger towards the detectives. Lily had continued to offer her support and Marnie had remarked on the closeness between the two, but Romeo had dismissed it.

A week after James had been attacked Romeo came to an unwelcome conclusion; he realized there was one person who might be able to get through to James. 

With reluctance he had found himself at the Hutch looking for Tony.

“Romeo?” Tony said with surprise, “you were looking for me?”

Romeo nods, “I need to know how to get a hold of Harry,” he throws out without preamble.

“Why?” Tony responds a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Do you know where he is or not?” Romeo demands unwilling to explain himself.

Tony hesitates, “is this about James?”

Romeo struggles to hold back his irritation, “I just need to talk to him, can you give me his number? Please?” he adds.

Romeo can tell Tony is torn over his request, but finally he sighs and reaches for his phone and scrolls through his contacts.

“Thanks,” Romeo says after adding Harry’s number into his phone. He can feel Tony watching him as he leaves. Romeo had learned from James that Tony had tossed his son out after the affair had been discovered and Romeo couldn’t help but wonder briefly if Tony had any regrets.

Romeo dialled the number with trepidation, he wasn’t sure he was doing the right thing but at this point he just wanted his Dad back and if Harry could help then he would do what he had to, to get Harry to come back. He sighs with annoyance when he gets voicemail; “Harry it’s Romeo call me back as soon as you get this message. Something has happened to James.”

Romeo is reading to James from James Joyce when his phone rings.

“Hello?”

“Romeo, it’s Harry,” 

Romeo jumps up and steps out into the hallway.

“Harry I need you to come back to the village,”

“What happened to James?”

Romeo could hear the concern in Harry’s voice.

“He’s in the hospital, he’s in a coma,” Romeo explains.

“What? What happened?” Harry practically yells over the phone.

Romeo hesitates, “someone tried to kill him.”

There’s silence on the other end, “okay I’m on my way,” Harry finally says before hanging up.

Romeo looks up to find Marnie standing in front of him, “who was that?”

“Harry,” he answers, “I called him.”

“Why would you call that boy?” Marnie demands, “all he’s ever done is break James’ heart.”

Romeo shrugs, “I know but James loves him, and I thought maybe James would respond to his voice,” he looks at Marnie, “I just want him to wake up.”

Marnie puts her hand on Romeo’s arm, “I know sweetheart I do to. Maybe Harry will make a difference,” she said with doubt in her voice.

It was getting late when a nurse came in and notified them that there was a young man asking to see James. Marnie looked over to Romeo, who nodded before following the nurse. He spots Harry standing in the hallway, concern and fear etched on his face.

“Romeo, where is he? Where’s James?” Harry starts when he sees him.

Romeo motions to him to follow him and heads back into James’ room.

Romeo watches as Harry takes in James lying still on the bed, the only noise the beeping from the various machines he’s hooked up too.

“How long has he been like this?” Harry finally asks.

“A week,” Marnie answers moving as Harry approaches the bed.

“James,” Harry starts softly, “it’s me. It’s Harry. I, I came back as soon as I heard.”

He looks at Marnie and Romeo, “what do the doctors say?”

“They say they’ve done everything they can, that it’s up to James now,” Marnie answers gazing at her son.

“They said talking to him might help because people in his state might still be able to hear voices,” Romeo explains, “that’s why I called you. I thought maybe you could get a response out of him.”


End file.
